Patty Jenkins has discussed how she'll be using the character's DCEU theme in Wonder Woman. Although the upcoming superhero movie will be Diana Prince's first live-action solo outing, it won't be the first time audiences have met Gal Gadot's version of DC's Amazon hero. She debuted in Batman v Superman, suiting up for the final conflict against Doomsday and giving fans a taste of how the shared universe franchise will be approaching the character.
Along with interpretations of her powers and the lasso of truth, one of the biggest additions made was her theme. Titled "Is She With You?", Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL's hero track was a striking embodiment of the character and, aside from the reuse of Man of Steel's central motif, the highlight of the soundtrack. However, one thing it definitely wasn't is something you'd expect to hear in World War I, the setting of the solo film; its use of electric guitars has felt incredibly out of place in the trailers thus far.
Speaking with Empire, director Patty Jenkins addressed fan concerns over the song, explaining how its usage will work as a representation of the character's development across the franchise:
"The song is slightly more complicated, because that is the song of a very adult and evolved character. I love that track, but we had to embrace it as a different thing. The story is of who Diana grows into being; you can't just come out of the gate with a song like that for a ten year old."
Jenkins doesn't say explicitly whether the song will be in the movie in its original form or not but does suggest it won't be used overly prominently. Wonder Woman is a full-on origin story, charting Diana's journey from Themyscira to her first interaction with humanity and taking down arch-villain Ares, seeing her go from sheltered princess to the adept hero we saw in Dawn of Justice. With that in mind, it would seem logical for the theme to not be used in its BvS form, at least not until very late in the story.
Rupert Gregson-Williams will be scoring the movie, with additional music from Tom Howe. It's not presently known the approach they'll be taking, but based on the setting you'd expect something classical. Indeed, the edit bay footage shown to journalists back in February used John Murphy's "Sunshine (Adagio In D Minor)" (from Sunshine) as temp music for the no man's land action scene, suggesting the film will aim for something more timeless.
With that in mind, it may be that the "Is She With You" theme will serve as a leitmotif, teased throughout the movie in different forms and styles before getting its proper showing at the end. This was used in reverse in Batman v Superman, with subtle playings of Man of Steel's core theme used to show Superman's doubt, so would definitely fit the wider series approach.
While the DCEU movies have been overall divisive, Hans Zimmer's original music for the first two movies has been roundly praised, setting a high bar for Wonder Woman. Based on Jenkins describing the score as "epic", it's possible Gregson-Williams may have succeeded.
Source: Empire
